Try This Adorable Quiz on History’s Famous Animals

For the longest time, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was pinned on Kate O'Leary and her cow Daisy for kicking over a lantern during a late-night milking. While the myth has propagated for decades — O'Leary and Daisy were only recused in 1997 — the actual culprit is said to be a man named Louis M. Cohn, who knocked over a lantern when he ran away from an illegal card game.

When “rail mail” was at its peak in the late 1800s, scruffy mutt Owney the dog was right there riding the rails alongside the mailbags being transported around the country. Owney's home base was Albany, New York, but as a recognizable fixture on the mail trains, Owney received tokens from postal workers to add to his harness, which marked his continental travels.

Koko, a gorilla who knew sign language, was known for her deep emotional intelligence. In 1984, she asked for a pet for her birthday. The gorilla was given her pick from a litter of kittens and selected a gray-and-white Manx she named All Ball. While All Ball was one of several kittens Koko raised in her lifetime, it was the passing of her first pet that gave scientists insight into an animal's ability to grieve.

Terry began her career opposite Shirley Temple in 1934's “Bright Eyes” before beating 100 other dogs to nab the role of Toto in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939). The cairn terrier earned $125 per week — more than many of the human actors. After the success of “The Wizard of Oz,” Terry was officially renamed “Toto.”

Whether you're a snow bunny or a snowbird, you probably take note of February 2's traditional Groundhog Day ceremony: Punxsutawney Phil pops out of his hole, and if he sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. Phil is named for the Pennsylvanian borough where the event has taken place since 1887 and continues to this day.

Humans have sent animals into the sky as flight-test guinea pigs for centuries. One of the very first “flying” animals was Montauciel the sheep, who joined a duck and a rooster in 1783 for a hot air balloon ride as part of a demonstration for French royals Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Montauciel's name even translates to “reach the sky.”

Seabiscuit is most famous for beating Triple Crown winner War Admiral by four lengths in a two-horse special at Pimlico in Baltimore in 1938. Part of Seabiscuit’s legend comes from how small he was — far from the stature of a typical racehorse. Despite this, Seabiscuit went on to sire over 100 horses and was named the American Horse of the Year in 1938.

Having a White House pet is a tradition stemming back to George Washington, but Calvin Coolidge might take the cake for the most unusual companion: a raccoon. The raccoon was sent as a gift to the Coolidges to eat for Thanksgiving dinner, but they ended up adopting “Rebecca” instead, and gave her a dedicated house and free rein to roam the White House grounds.

Ernest Shackleton's Trans-Antarctic Expedition is best known for the survival story of the 28 expedition team members after their ship got trapped in ice. Mrs. Chippy the cat — a male cat, ironically — may not have made the long trek home, but survived in memory for climbing the rigging and cuddling up with the crew before they parted ways for good.

Before he started dipping his animated paws into honey jars, Winnie-the-Pooh was, in fact, a real bear. Canadian soldier Lieutenant Harry Colebourn adopted the black bear from a trapper and named it "Winnie," after his hometown, Winnipeg. When called to the Western Front, Colebourn sent the bear to the London Zoo, where Winnie caught the eye of Christopher Robin and his father, A.A. Milne.

Smoky was a tiny Yorkshire terrier found by U.S. soldiers in New Guinea. She was trained to perform simple commands, and later more complicated ones. The training proved useful when the troops needed to send coded messages but the communications center had been damaged. Smoky ran a wire through a tiny underground tunnel while a soldier called her from the other end.

Though many human passengers died in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck, the HMS Cossack, and the HMS Ark Royal, legend has it that Unsinkable Sam — whose real name was Oscar — survived all three wrecks. After his miraculous escapes, he lived out the rest of his days in Northern Ireland.

Beautiful Jim Key impressed everyone who saw him. Owned by self-taught veterinarian and former enslaved American Doc William Key, Jim displayed many skills, including appearing to read, write, do math, sort mail, and use a cash register. Between 1897 and 1906, an estimated 10 million people saw Beautiful Jim Key perform, and 2 million children signed the pledge, “I promise always to be kind to animals.”

The 1994 murder of Shirley Duaguay was a mystery for months before officials discovered a bag containing a jacket with cat hair and blood on it. Having already suspected Duaguay’s husband Douglas Beamish of the crime, a geneticist ran a DNA test to compare the hairs to Beamish’s cat, Snowball. When the hairs matched those discovered at the crime scene, officials had enough evidence to convict the killer.

When diphtheria swept through Nome, Alaska, in the 1920s, Siberian Husky Balto led a team of sled dogs to deliver medication through the last leg of its journey from Seattle, WA. But unlike the other teams from earlier in the trip, Balto had to lead his group through an overnight blizzard. He was hailed as a hero upon the team’s arrival on February 2, 1925.

Smokey the Bear is best known as a cartoon figure warning people of the dangers of forest fires, which is fitting considering the real bear’s backstory. In 1950, firefighters rescued a young bear cub who was separated by his mother during a wildfire in New Mexico. The cub’s story spread across the country. He was sent to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. where he became a living symbol of wildfire prevention.

Strelka was one of the first animals to survive going into orbit, and after her return, she gave birth to a litter of puppies. Supposedly, Jackie Kennedy brought up the puppies to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at a dinner in Vienna. Later, a puppy was delivered to the White House with a letter revealing that her name was Pushinka (Russian for “Fluffy”), and that she was one of Strelka’s pups.

Chips, a German Shepherd mix, was dubbed an American hero when he helped capture 10 Italian soldiers during World War II. Thanks to his efforts, Chips was awarded a Silver Star, a Distinguished Service Cross, and a Purple Heart in 1943. His Purple Heart was later stripped, however, after complaints that the recognition devalued the human heroes who had also received it.

Named for his facial hair, David Greybeard was the first chimpanzee Jane Goodall saw using tools — he used a stalk of grass to fish termites out of a hill and even created fishing tools from twigs. While other chimps became aggressive at Goodall’s presence, David was much gentler, and the two formed a friendship. David showed the same type of affection for his fellow chimps, and was even known to comfort another male named Goliath.

Each year on February 2, the residents of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, celebrate a beloved local groundhog named Phil, in a tradition that has existed since 1887. According to Groundhog Day lore, if Phil sees his shadow after emerging from his burrow, it means we’re in for six more weeks of winter. However, if there’s no shadow to be seen, that means an early spring.

With Dolly Parton as her namesake, Dolly the sheep was cloned using a mammary gland and an egg cell from two different sheep. Previously, mammals had been cloned from embryonic cells, but Dolly, born July 5, 1996, was the first to come from adult cells. Over the course of her life, Dolly had six lambs, including her last set of triplets in 2000.